


Elskan mín

by Nenya



Series: The first and last [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A/B/O, M/M, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2019-12-06 22:26:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18226211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nenya/pseuds/Nenya
Summary: Every realm had it's evolving, except midgard. They were a few millenia behind the other realms but the norns, and so fate, forbade anyone to interfere with the goings on. Until now, when the midgardian Omega finally has been found and in need of help. Or so the norns want everyone to believe...The so called Civil War of the Avengers has ripped them apart, the compound is mostly empty and the left over Avengers are trying to hold each other together. A synthezoid who doesn't understand why what happened happened, a colonel with a broken back and a genius feeling like shit but trying to hold on to the people that didn't leave.





	1. Chapter 1

News spreads fast around Asgard. It spreads even before Odin has been informed and goes on, everyone hearing about The Mates returning to Asgard. It’s something that hasn’t happened in ages, some of the older Aesir, Odin and Frigga among them, remember the last time The Mates have been seen, it’s been so long, some even speculated they were dead.

It’s the first time the Odinsons meet The Mates, and the first time they see Odin nervous as well.

The old folk sitting in taverns or on benches in the many public parks around Asgard grumble about all the fuss being made, once again. Wasn’t it only two or three years ago that Asgard was attacked by the Dark Elves? Their queen nearly killed if not for the intervention of the youngest, Loki, and what a turn around the young prince has done the last few years. He’s still a trickster, playing pranks on the unsuspecting folk of Asgard. Of course they don’t know what happened before he fell from the bifrost, during his stay in the void and after.

And that’s where their thoughts drift off towards earlier years, the princes running around Asgard, better times…

The visit though.

That’s why we’re here after all.

The throne room is prepared by hurrying servants, nervous hands trying to remove ages old stains from the floor just to impress The Mates, Frigga flutters around, ordering her boys and her king around until everything is to her liking. She tugs and pulls on Odin's ornate jerkin until it sits perfectly, brushes Thor’s hair behind his ear and implores Loki to be good because they don’t need to have yet another incident with The Mates. It’d just spell trouble for everyone.

The doors swing open, guards standing at attention and Frigga flutters back to the side of her king, standing regaly beside him with her sons flanking them both. Thor on Odin's side, Loki on hers, just a step below them. Her eyes flicker around the room one last time, the servants did good, and then they enter.

They look good. Better than the last time she’d seen them, but that was a few millennia ago. Every once in a while she’d get a letter from one or the other, but for the most part they’re living secluded somewhere. There are whispers that they’ve found sanctuary with the norns but she doesn’t listen to gossips. She’ll find out soon enough. Maybe. And if not, well, they’re not required to tell the king anything, after ‘the incident’... She never thought The Mates would set foot on Asgard again, not while Odin still lived but, wonders never cease, as they say.

While Frigga’s thoughts flicker through her head, The Mates approach the throne, neither bowing or kneeling, both just incline their heads as greeting. They’re the primary couple, the first mates, they bow to no king. One of the reasons for ‘the incident’ where a young Odin felt that even The Mates should bow to his will. He’s gotten wiser with age. One should hope. Odin has, after all, only one eye left.

The silence drags on for what seems like forever. No one speaks, no one even moves a muscle. She can feel Odin getting more irritated, the longer it takes for someone to say something. One of the mates, the Omega, seems to hold back a grin or laugh and Frigga sighs inwardly. If things don’t go well today, chances are that Odin is going to lose something else. Maybe not his eye, again, but still. She greets them warmly, bids them welcome to Odin's hall and lays a hand on Odin's shoulder. He better behave, says her subtle squeeze.

Odin shoots a disgruntled look at her and then collects himself. He gets up, takes a few steps toward the Mates and starts talking. About the honour to welcome them to his hall again, announces a feast to be held in their honour and everything that comes with hosting esteemed guests.

“I’m afraid we’re not here for a social visit, Odin.”

Frigga can feel Odin bristle at the words carelessly thrown at him from the Omega. She’s holding back a smile at the insolent thing, standing there looking down his nose at Odin. It should look ridiculous since Odin is taller, but the Omega makes it work.

“Indulge an old man, then.” Odin manages to say without too much sarcasm or malice behind his words. “It’s been quite a while since you graced our halls, after all, and the court would appreciate spending some time with you both.”

The Omega snorts indelicately and opens his mouth to say something only to get interrupted by his mate.

“We’ll love to attend the feast, thank you, your majesty.”

The Omega looks at his mate with wide eyes. “But…”

“Peace, sváss. Odin’s right, it’s been a while and it would be nice to see some old friends, don’t you think?”

The Omega scrunches his face but nods, at last. “Well, you better make some time for us tomorrow then.” he throws his head back and stalks out of the hall, towards the guest wing, and Frigga motions for some servants to attend to the Mates. She takes a deep breath, glares at Odin and makes sure he knows how foolish his idea of an impromptu feast is and rushes out. So much to do, so little time.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s still early when a servant wakes them, asking for forgiveness but the Mates would like to schedule a meeting at their earliest convenience. Worlds may hang in the balance. Odin just grunts and turns around, snoring obnoxiously, pretending to still be asleep. Frigga shoos the servant out with the promise of a joined breakfast in an hour, where they can talk.

The feast the night before had been a raging success, despite being announced only hours before. It’d still been going when she and Odin went to their chambers and she was wondering how her sons fared. Had Thor had the chance and good sense to sleep? Had Loki behaved somewhat and not antagonised everyone again? She’d find out sooner or later.

It takes her a while, but in the end she ushers a moody and grumbling Odin into the private meeting chambers where the Mates and, surprisingly, her sons are already having breakfast. Thor is sitting there, regaling the Alpha mate with one of his stories and Loki is watching, every so often exchanging a few words with the Omega.

After they’ve all been served, Odin dismisses the servants and prompts the Mates to speak.

“We come with news from the norns. Midgard has finally evolved.” the Omega pronounces. “We’ve been sent to make you aware and to ask for your aid in helping the Midgardians with the change.”

The room falls silent for a bit, while Odin mulls over the news and everyone else is busy eating.

“Why would they need help? As far as I know, the Mates find each other without help and everything goes from there.” Loki, of course it’s Loki, asks and gets a stern look from Odin.

But the Omega only smiles. “Because the Alpha hasn’t manifested.”

“That’s impossible! There is always a pair.” Odin rumbles between bites. “What happened, did he die before presenting?”

“Then another would have come forth, the fates don’t let something as meaningless as death come in their way.” Loki, again, throws in recieving another stare.

“You’re quite right in that regard. No, the Alpha hasn’t died or anything, he hasn’t been born.” the Omega waves a hand carelessly. “As you should be aware, Midgardians are crafty. They evolved immensely since any of you, excepting your sons, have been there. A few decades ago, they did something to one of their own that forcefully evolved him so making the birth of the true Alpha insignificant.”

“Well then, why do they need our aid? There is an Alpha, an Omega, put them together and all is well. I don’t know why you come here to announce something as insignificant as that.” Odin asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t forget, father, how they said ‘decades’. If it’s true, and you know how accurate the norns are, the Alpha could be on death's door. Midgardians don’t live as long as us.” Loki smirks.

“Again, you’re right.” the Omega smiles at Loki. “But you’re wrong too. The Alpha is alive and well, as is the Omega. Something happened though, and as problematic as their bonding would have been before, now the norns are quite sure that a bonding won’t ever happen. The Alpha has a lover, one he is obsessed with to the point of leaving everything and everyone to be with them, even betraying the Omega.”

“So they had a quarrel, it happens. Let them be for a bit, they may even form a triad, it’s not unheard of.” Odin waves his hand. “It doesn’t have anything to do with us, let them find their way on their own. We’ve been told for aeons that we have to let them evolve on their own, without our meddling and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Omega bristles “And now you’re explicitly told to meddle. The Omega needs help. A bonding can’t happen, shouldn’t happen, and your sons will make sure of that and help the Omega adjust.”

“Why?” It’s the first time Frigga speaks up and all eyes fall on her. “Why do you need my sons for that?”

“Because both of them, more or less, know the Omega.” the Alpha speaks up. “Thor more than Loki. As far as we know, Loki only met him a few times and not under ideal circumstances.”

The Omega outright grins. “We’ve been told you threw him out of a window.”


	2. Chapter 2

It takes a while. Longer than the Mates wish for but Odin is adamant that his sons be prepared for every eventuality. Parchments are written, corrected, discussed about and thrown out just to be rewritten again until Odin and his council are satisfied with the wording. Frigga and the Omega prepare Loki for any eventuality, his somewhat dusty healing skills are freshened up, potions and herbs are prepared to help the Midgardian Prime with whatever ails him. He is not to die and if all else fails, Frigga promises to bring a golden apple. But that’s only the last resort, and Odin isn’t much pleased about it but assents.

So, after days and days of preparations, discussions and whatever else Frigga, Odin or the Mates can come up with, they stand at the bifrost. Last minute warnings, advice and hugs are exchanged and then Heimdall sends Loki and Thor to Midgard, to the Avengers Compound.

 

* * *

Nowadays, the Avengers, such as they are, are residing at Stark Tower, New York. The Compound upstate is just too large and empty for everyone to feel comfortable and Vision especially isn’t too fond of the ‘thing’ that happened there. So, after several days in the hospital, Rhodey and Tony convince Vision to move in with them at the tower.

The first order of business are Rhodey’s legs. Tony outright refuses to take the opinions of the best doctors money can buy to heart, refuses to believe that his platypus will never walk again. With the help of experts, Dr. Cho among them, the first edition of leg braces are tested. It’ll take some time to iron out all the problems and perfect them but as long as Tony draws breath, he’ll make sure his Rhodey will stay on his feet if he wants to.

Second, Vision. Once out the hospital and still trying to decide what to do and where to go, Tony went to the Compound to check on things. There he found Vision, seemingly frozen, at the edge of a hole in the middle of the floor, staring down. It took a bit of nudging and talking with a firm voice to get Vision to come out of his stupor and, well, that’s another reason to moving right there. 

It’s not too bad. Their days are busy. Rhodey, after recuperating some, takes on the Accords. He discusses, threatens and wheedles with everyone (he’s got enough experience dealing with Tony and he’s an Air Force Colonel for gods sake, some paper pushers at the UN aren’t going to pull one up on him). The old Thunderbolt, Ross, tries his old tricks again but Rhodey’s been ‘dealing with shit’ for most of his adult life. It doesn’t take long until he cracks, mentions something to this person, something else to another and Thunderbolt Ross is no more. He’s not dead, of course. Just slowly pushed under a rock, disgraced and watched by every alphabet agency of America (and one or two not from the US). The last thing Rhodey says to Ross, with a smile of course, is that he can not wait when, not if, Ross takes just one step out of line. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. Ross is done and the Accords shape up to something to be proud of, to be volunteered for. Rhodey's awesome like that. 

Vision starts to grow. Not in height, he’s quite tall enough according to Tony. No, he’s growing as a person. He starts taking on classes, cooking, art, psychology. The last one is surprising and yet not. He wants to find out how humans tick, what are their motivations, basically everything human. He wants to understand the inner workings of the mind. 

Tony, well, he’s busy. When he’s not flitting from meeting to meeting, helping Rhodey with the Accords or being test object for Visions  insight in the human brain, psyche, whatever, is holed up in the workshop. Braces for Rhodey, new and better versions of the Spidersuit for the kid, extra power supplies for the War Machine and Iron Man armor, parachutes for all, new SI projects that need his expertise, his signature, whatever he can do to stay busy. Because if he’s not, the emptiness is going to do him in.

Since Siberia, or maybe even earlier during the civil war, he can’t exactly remember anymore, he’s had this thing. Feeling. Whatever it is, it gives him hives just to think about but it hurts. Somewhat. He’d thought it’d be a heart attack or something but the doctors can’t see anything wrong with him physically (apart from the damage from a strangely shaped object on his chest, nearly frostbitten extremities and leftover damage on his lungs and heart from his ‘vacation’ in Afghanistan). It’s all in his head, they say. PTSD. Therapy, they say, will help with that. It’s not that he hasn’t tried therapy. It’s just not for him. Vision, bless him, tries to analyze him sometimes but he’s still a baby, a toddler even though he looks and acts grown up. He’s just missing the experience and though his trying to help is appreciated, it’s not working very well.

A few weeks after the Civil War, everything is okay, nothing is fine. A SNAFU, if you will. Someone in the UN starts babbling about recruiting more people, the public is divided into two camps with some outliers. One, the more ‘outspoken’ of the two, is perfectly fine to lay all the blame on Tony, demands the return of Captain America and his team and attacks, verbal and in some cases physical, are daily occurrences. The other is more laid back, quiet even. They’ve seen the press conference Tony did after Afghanistan, followed all the information being made available to the public and are pretty much irritated by the outcries of ‘Team Cap’ as the other group is called. Accountability is written in big fat letters across everything Tony’s been doing since coming back and the ‘#ScAvengers’, as they’re called on social media, just don’t want anyone to have a say in what they’re doing. There are laws and rules for everyone, soldiers, police, doctors, everyone has to follow some law or other, and Captain America doesn’t have to? Inconceivable. The outliers just don’t care one way or the other as long as they’re not involved and no one takes a crap on their doorstep (or, you know, destroys their house while saving the world or some shit).

Days are busy, but that’s how they like it. Less time to think about everything and blame themselves for being the only ones with a working brain.

Recruitment is slow, they have some luck with a group of four, the Defenders, who signed the Accords but don’t want to be associated with the clusterfuck that is the Avengers, the Fantastic Four have signed as their own group, the X-men, the Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, everyone with a little bit of ‘wanting to save the world or fight baddies’ in their bones come out of the woods to sign. Some anonymous, some out and proud. It’s enough to show that the Accords are here, and they’re here to stay. Meanwhile, the Wasp and Captain Marvel have signed up for the Avengers and that… It helps. The Wasp, Hope van Dyne, signed to make up for her ex-boyfriend Scott, the Ant-Man, and Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, just got back from outer space, looking for some more earthly activity and since she was and still is the person Rhodey has had a crush on for years her acceptance into the Avengers is a no brainer. And maybe the words of the one eyed pirate (of course Fury isn’t dead, what do you take him for?), had something to do with her easy acceptance as well. Things are a bit more complicated with the Spider-Kid, but they’re getting there. For the moment he’s an anonymous signee of a part of the Accords making him collaborate with the NYPD and he’s not allowed to go ‘heroing’ anywhere else, if not especially requested by one of the Avengers.

So, everything is okay. Or not. Sometimes. They’re getting there.

Most of the fires are burned out or doused, life's a bit easier, the Avengers are able to breathe a bit more freely than before.

And that’s when the first alarm goes off. It’s right on their doorstep, or previous doorstep if you will, because the intruder alert at the Compound is triggered. It isn’t as much an Avengers thing as something private because Tony is still the owner of the thing but just in case and to show they are perfectly willing to work with the council, a call goes out to them, detailing everything and the first ‘official’ New Avengers mission is a go. It’s a test run, so to speak because no one actually expects something too bad to happen.

 

* * *

During his time in recovery, Loki has been thinking about the heroes that thwarted his ‘evil’ plans to rule the earth.

At first, he was taken to the dungeons and he was perfectly content with that. The throwdown with the Hulk had loosened the Others hold on him and the total obliteration of the Chitauri mothership, and so the death of the Other, freed him all together. All in all, he should have been fine. Should.

The time with the Other and his Chitauri, the effects of the scepter and it’s mind manipulation made him somewhat apprehensive, let’s say, of being entirely certain that ‘it’ was over. He was fine, save in the dungeons and if someone wanted to go after him, they had to go through the whole of Asgard to get him and if they did, they deserved it. Deserved to get to him, even if he’d a plan already to end his miserable existence. Until his mother invested herself in his reformation and discovered some discrepancies.

From there on out, he was made to improve, loath as he was about it.

He had enough time to think and his thoughts, more often than not, involved the Avengers. And if he would come into contact with them again, and how that would play out.

He’ll find out soon enough.

Heimdall sets them down on a previously used spot infront of a large complex. The surroundings look a little wild, unkempt, but then again, Loki doesn’t know too much about the usual way Midgardians cared for things. He doesn’t judge. Much.

In his happiness to be back on Midgard again and about to see his friends, Thor marches toward the buildings entrance and nearly runs into the door because, who knew, it’s locked.

Thor frowns, mutters something, and starts knocking. The usual Thor-knock, which compares to others nearly ripping a door apart, before he starts hammering against it. The door doesn’t budge though.

It takes a while, Thor even presses against a window to see if someone is walking around inside, but everything seems to be deserted. They are standing again at the bifrost site, debating what to do next when Thor tilts his head and shushes Loki.

Loki, being on edge already because this is Midgard and the last time he was here things didn’t go so well, prepares a scathing remark when he hears it too. The sound the Man of Iron used to make, during the thwarted invasion. But louder, echoing as if…

Yes. There’s two armors. Because of course there is. Why settle for one, when you can have two?

So, two armors, and one… person, red with a familiar feeling to him.

The three Avengers land, the Man of Iron and the grey armor on their knees, the red one a bit slower and more elegant, floats to the ground.

Thor smiles blindingly and takes a few steps towards his friends while Loki stays behind, prepared to cast a shield at a moments notice, can’t be too careful.

The two armors stand, the grey one bristling with weapons while the Man of Iron just points his arms at Loki and, strangely, Thor. The helmet snaps back and Starks face underneath it looks like death warmed over. He squuints at Loki, then Thor and groans. 

“You better have a good explanation for this, Point Break.”

Loki smirks and takes a few steps forward, until the sound of Starks weapon takes on a higher pitch, charged for attack. 

“What, not happy to see me?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writers block is a bitch. No excuses, just... Sorry >_< (Damn, this, this is the result of weeeeeeeeks of trying. I'm getting there, but it's a slog, let me tell you.
> 
> Kudos and comments very much appreciated, and sorry for any eventual mistakes in here.


End file.
